Standing Ksitigarbha (1300–1350): Art, History and Details

Standing Ksitigarbha (1300–1350) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This fourteenth-century hanging scroll depicts Kṣitigarbha (지장보살), the Bodhisattva of Salvation in the guise of a youthful Buddhist monk. Clad in simple monastic robes, he holds a staff to announce his presence and a wish-fulfilling jewel symbolizing his vow to relieve suffering. Kṣitigarbha is believed to descend into the underworld to guide and liberate tormented souls trapped in purgatory. His compassionate mission made him a key figure in both East Asian visual and ritual tradition.

Object facts

• Title: Standing Ksitigarbha
• Date: 1300–1350
• Culture: Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on silk
• Dimensions: Painting: 102.6 x 43.2 cm (40 3/8 x 17 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 2025.141

A detail from the museum

Only 10 of the 14th-century paintings of Ksitigarbha are known to exist in the world today. This is one of these rare surviving masterpieces.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Chung, Woothak. “新出の高麗時代 地蔵菩薩図 [Newly Discovered Koryo Dynasty Ksitigarbha Painting].” Yamato bunka 大和文華 99 (1998): 1–15.
• Shin, Gwang-hee. “고려불화의유사성과의미 [Iconographic Similarities and Differences in Goryeo-Period Ksitigarbha Paintings],” Buddhist Studies (2018), 191⎯217.
• McCormick, Sooa Im. “Welcoming a World Treasure: The Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva from the Goryeo Dynasty.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 65, no. 4 (2025): 20.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.